THE FLASH SEASON 3 *REVIEW*

So superhero TV shows are bigger and more popular than
ever these days.
And one of the shows leading that charge is the Flash on the CW.
So, let’s talk about the third season.
*clip* Also, yes, I know, once again I’m super
late to reviewing a TV show, a BHL Hudson classic.
Just wait until I get to Agents of SHIELD season 4 in like September.
But since this show has been out for a while now, I’m talking full spoilers here.
So, you have been warned.
And you know what, I wanna tell you upfront, I get a lot of comments saying, oh my god,
I always agree with exactly what you say.
It’s so weird!
But it has been brought to my attention on Twitter that this is the first time a lot
of people really disagree with me.
In a nice mature way and all, but still.
So, just be warned, this may be the first time you have a differing opinion.
Because I honestly kind of loved The Flash season 3.
Ok, you know what, we’re gonna switch it up a bit from my usual formula, let’s talk
about all the negative things first.
Cuz yeah, even though I really enjoyed this season, it sure ain’t perfect.
Look, as you’d expect from The Flash at this point, there are some very cheesy moments.
And I’ll talk later about why most of those didn’t really annoy me, but there are a
few, especially at the start, that are just kind of eye-roll worthy.
There’s some super cliche dialogue sometimes and occasionally just some pretty cringe-worthy
moments.
Less so than previous seasons I’d say, but they’re still there.
Also, that crossover with Supergirl and Arrow, it was a fun episode, but a, I don’t watch
Arrow Supergirl or Legends, so I never actually got the resolution to that, and b, it didn’t
flow at all with this season’s story.
Like the clearly wanted to have a crossover episode and it felt quite shoehorned in.
Also, I don’t watch Supergirl, so I imagine there’s probably a reason for this, but
when they go to get the best heroes to help with these aliens, they get Supergirl.
But question, doesn’t Superman now exist in that show?
Again, there’s most definitely an explanation, I just thought at the time, that’s weird,
and maybe they could’ve had a line of dialogue saying, oh I’m sorry, he’s off on another
planet or something.
While a lot of the special effects I thought were surprisingly good, some still looks very
video gamey.
And there are some green screen that is just atrocious.
While I also liked most of the cast, the girl who plays Jesse….look, I don’t wanna be
mean, and maybe she isn’t even that bad.
It’s just her character, I hated.
So frustrating and unnecessarily just a jerk 90% of the time.
And I didn’t think her and Wally had a ton of chemistry.
But really, those are kind of small things.
The only real major problem I really got annoyed by in this season was that some of the drama
felt really forced sometimes.
And at points it started to get extremely repetitive.
Like you know what, the drama worked for a lot of it.
But then as it went along and the same thing happened over and over and over again, where
a character shares a deep secret with someone and then asks them not to share said secret
with a loved one, then that loved one finds out about the secret, they get really mad,
and it takes an episode or so and some adventure for them to forgive the character again.
That exact thing happened maybe 5 times, and it worked for some of those.
But for some of the others it just felt really contrived and out of character for some of
these people.
Like sometimes I found myself getting really frustrated that person A wouldn’t tell person
B this one thing, because I know that person B is gonna find out anyway later.
And those are all the bad things about the season.
Now for everything else in season 3 of the Flash, and why I had so much fun with it.
Really, I felt like this season cranked up every aspect of the previous seasons in the
best way.
And what I mean by that is, I think was definitely the darkest season yet, but I also think it
had the most insane fun comic book-y stuff in it, which, if you watch my reviews of the
previous seasons, you know is a big part of what I love about this show.
That it knows it’s a comic book show, and it just fully commits to it.
Time travel, other dimensions, going to an actual city full of gorillas, come on, can
you get more comic book-y.
And yet it still managed to maintain a sense of dramatic tension throughout most of it,
focusing a lot on the characters and their struggles, which again, didn’t always work,
but most of it did.
The cast here was once again great, and I don’t know if this is just me but I actually
feel like the acting was considerably better this season.
It’s still that CW a little bit corny acting, but most of this really worked for me.
Grant Gustin I still love as Barry Allen, I don’t know how Ezra Miller will stack
up.
Candice Patton as Iris, who when I first started the show I really didn’t like, I feel like
she’s gotten a lot better and her character definitely has the most going on in this season,
what with that deaths entrance and all.
Carlos Valdes as Cisco Ramon once again is very funny and likeable, and just about everyone
else from Wally to Caitlyn to Joe are great.
This season they added Tom Felton, aka Draco Malfoy, and he works really well.
At first he was kind of just being a prick again, which I was thinking, great this is
officially typecasting now.
But he turns around not before too long and his character became much more interesting.
And once again, I have to say, my favorite performance in this show, again, which is
weird since he’s playing a completely different character, but Tom Cavanagh is incredible
in this show.
That guy needs to be in more stuff.
In this season he plays HR as well as Harry, also, quick pause, in case for some reason
you’re watching this and haven’t seen the Flash, there are multiple versions of
characters from different Earths, just watch the Flash, it’s hard to explain, anyway,
back to the video.
And HR is a character who could’ve gotten sooo annoying sooo quickly.
When he was first introduced, this zany wacky goofy version of Harrison Wells, I was like,
oh god, this is gonna be terrible.
And yet somehow, he was still amazing.
He didn’t get annoying to me, I thought he was funny and a good addition to the cast,
and he added a different dynamic to the team.
Plus at the end when he sacrifices himself and says I’m not a coward, that made me
tear up and almost cry.
And so before I get into that, I just wanna give it up to Tom Cavanagh for being a great
actor, because there are scenes where HR and Harrison Wells are interacting, and you don’t
feel like you’re watching the same actor.
It’s incredible, and impressive, so bravo Tom Cavanagh.
Now like I was just saying there, this is probably the most emotional season of the
Flash.
Not just HR dying and all the stuff with Iris, but there were like 3 or 4 times in this season
where I almost cried, which I personally think is kind of crazy for The Flash TV show.
And the thing is, they were mostly moments between Barry and Iris, which is a relationship
that at the start of this show I really didn’t buy.
But now, three seasons in, I’m tearing when these two are interacting, so that just kind
of surprised me.
The thing is with this season, at this point I’ve actually gotten really attached to
the characters here, and so I think I’m more forgiving of the more kind of cheesy
or schlocky moments in here, and I buy a lot more of the drama.
I don’t know, it’s hard to explain, but before it kind of felt like I was watching
a show with actors playing characters and it was pretty fun.
But now I actually feel like I’m watching the characters, and not just actors playing
them.
I actually feel invested in these characters and what goes wrong for them and all that,
which is why I think I enjoyed this season as much as I did.
And every character for the most part gets something interesting to do here.
At the start of this I was thinking, huh, Caitlyn’s getting a little boring cuz she’s
the only one here who doesn’t really have much going on, oh wait no she’s one of the
main plot points in the story.
Nevermind.
Speaking of which I also really liked the plot of this season.
With all the messing with the timeline stuff and having to deal with the repercussions
of that, that stuff is really interesting to me.
And then trying to change the future so Savitar doesn’t kill Iris, concepts like that fascinate
me and it was fun to see.
I realize I actually haven’t talked about Savitar yet.
Look, he’s fine.
He’s a good villain for this season, but he’s nothing insanely special.
Another speedster, except he’s more extreme than the last two.
I did like that besides beating the crap out of Barry, which he did do, he also messed
with him psychologically.
And as far as the twist that it was Barry in that suit all along, kind of, I can’t
speak to whether or not that was a good twist cuz it was spoiled for me by a lot of posts
on Instagram beforehand, so oh well.
Now just kind of a speed round, pun not intended, of things I liked.
The visual effects, while not all good, most are pretty great for TV.
That speed effect is pretty damn good now, and when they go to Gorilla City, for a TV
show those effects are surprisingly good.
The action is also pretty fun to watch, and the show generally despite some darker themes
is still a lot of fun to watch and is also very funny.
Even though these characters don’t seem to catch a lot of breaks, some of this show
is just really feel good, like with the Christmas episode at the end.
Because I care about these characters so much, that was just really sweet, and hit me in
a way I wasn’t expecting.
As far as the finale and the ending, it wasn’t anything insane
but it was still great.
I was slightly annoyed that they ended it on a cliffhanger, again, but I guess that’s
what TV shows have to do.
I guess a lot of people wouldn’t come back if it just had a happy ending for once.
But yeah, of course I’m looking forward to where this goes in season 4.
Before I wrap this up, there’s one last thing I wanna give a special mention to.
And that’s Duet, aka the musical episode.
Another example of a thing on this show that could’ve gone so horribly wrong very easily,
but I thought it really worked.
It was fun, it was different, the ending was great, and that song that Barry and Supergirl
sing is surprisingly catchy.
Never thought I’d say that.
In conclusion, The Flash season 3 was my favorite season of the Flash yet, and finally I feel
like I’m properly invested in this show.
Not flawless, but a pretty great season from a pretty great show.
I’ll give it a 9.3/10.
And before you ask, having looked back at my review of season 1, where I am right now,
I would give that season like a 8.9/10 or so, not a 9.4.
Just wanna clear that up.
So
those were my thoughts on the Flash season 3.
What are your wishes and/or pieces of advice?
Let me know all of your thoughts down below in the comments.
While you’re at it be sure to like this video, check out my Instagram and Twitter
@bhl_hudson, and subscribe for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.

THE FLASH SEASON 3 *REVIEW*

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THE FLASH SEASON 3 REVIEW